Central University of Venezuela has been the target of 24 violent attacks over the past three years [View all]

Between 2009 and November 16, 2011; university authorities of the Central University of Venezuela have denounced at the Scientific, Criminal and Forensic Investigation Agency (known for its acronym, Cicpc) and the Attorney General Office, 24 case files of attacks and aggressions against the university, students and authorities. From all of them, only the murder of student Pedro Trejo was investigated and solved in court .

In the rest of the case files, the Cicpc answered to the call of the authorities and held an inquest, but none of them offered a plain result which revealed the perpetrators of the attacks.

Out of the 24 violent events recorded at the UCV, on 11 occasions there were shots fired by the attackers who made use of firearms such as FAL riffles, submachine guns and 9 mm pistols. Some of those actions were recorded on the security cameras of the UCV. On seven occasions, attackers made use of tear gas against university authorities, workers and students. On 11 occasions, vehicles from authorities and student representatives were burned. Seven arson attacks were perpetrated in school facilities of the campus, especially against the President's Office and the FCU (student union). Hand-thrown explosives were used in 13 attacks and most of them have been aimed to the President's Office of the UCV, to be more accurate: 10 violent attempts in total.

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Pro-government groups

At least four pro-government groups operate at the UCV. The most well-known is M-28, a group that arose out of the raid on the University Council in March 2011 and stood out because of the violence perpetrated by this group and the indiscriminate use of tear gas, which use - as everyone knows - is limited only to security bodies. On that opportunity, full support was thrown behind them by President Hugo Chávez's Administration.